The late late FANTASTIC FOUR review

Well what do you know? In time for the DVD release! Ha ha!

I have been waiting for a FANTASTIC FOUR movie since I was probably 5 years old; or maybe not, but I know the FF has been an important part of my life for almost as long as my memory goes back. The fact that my son Ben is named Ben is not a coincidence. I have been casting an FF movie in my head since at least 1978...

There are some wacky coincidences too: Tim Story grew up next door to my good friend Jahn Evans, so I have actually had the pleasure of meeting Tim twice, and on one occasion (talk about thrills) we got to chat about the movie, and the comic, and the coming sequel! It definitely feels like some kind of fate, having such a close personal connection to the man that would direct the first real FF movie.

My make-up/effects industry younger brother spent about 3 months helping with the Thing's costume/suit/make-up. I saw the Thing's outfit and Doom's outfit way back in January, at Spectral Motion in the valley.

I have a handful of pop culture heroes...the Thing...John Belushi...Jerome "Curley" Howard...

Michael Chiklis has now played all of these men...

Okay, so me and the FF go way back. One thing this movie demonstrated was that there are a LOT of people like me! Thousands! Below us, and more numerous, are people that read other comics growing up, X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, etc. and are tangentially aware of the FF, because of appearances in the comics they read, or maybe they picked up a bunch of comic titles, and FF was among them. And below them (and more numerous still) are the people who when asked if they know who the Fantastic Four are, reply: "Is that the rock man and the fire guy?" I began reading FF after seeing the cartoon in 1969: the first FF I read was #95. I read FF off and on until I was about ten; I began picking up other titles when I was thirteen...at one point, I was buying on a regular basis the following:

FF
Marvel 2-In-1 (starring da ever-lovin' blue-eyed T'ing)
Spider-Man
Avengers
Thor
Captain America
X-Men
Incredible Hulk
Justice League of America
New Teen Titans
(DC titles didn't do much for me until Frank Miller created DARK KNIGHT RETURNS)

Okay, I digress...I know the FF. The point is made! (I just threw my hands up in the "Touchdown" gesture) Suffice it to say, I am very sympathetic to the material.

The movie itself can easily be described as Comic Book Movie 101; the origin of the Fantastic Four is the first thing we see. Reed Richards and Ben Grimm need to go into high earth orbit to conduct an experiment, and they convince industrialist (and school "chum") Victor Von Doom to let Reed use Doom's space station and space shuttle in exchange for 75% of the profits any such research might generate, as well as Doom himself overseeing the mission, along with his assistant Susan Storm and her brother, pilot Johnny Storm. The research is related to a "cosmic storm," (Stan Lee's wild, impossible, unexplained physics of the universe come to mind), that Richards hopes to meet out in space. When it arrives unexpectedly, all five are bathed in the cosmic rays. Under quarantine back on earth, it's obvious the storm has affected them physically. (spoiler!) They've acquired super powers! They were ordinary people, but now they are MR. FANTASTIC! THE THING! THE HUMAN TORCH! THE INVISIBLE WOMAN! The world will never again be the same!

I have got to stop reading so much god-damned Stan Lee!!!!!

Uh, oh yeah, almost forgot...Doom is now burdened with a small metallic scar, and is beginning to develop Electro's powers...the idea of Doom joining their challenge of the unknown comes by way of Marvel's Ultimate Fantastic Four series...where Doom is a rich industrialist ala Lex Luthor, and is named Von Damne.

Ben can't deal with turning into the Thing, and in the worst storytelling of the movie, escapes his quarantine to return to his wife. It was just a little hard to figure out exactly how Ben got back to NYC...

Yeah, that kind of sucked, as did a wife who a) doesn't exist in the comics; b) dresses incredibly inappropriately for the streets of Manhattan; and c) demonstrates all of the loyalty of a Fillipina spinster. The only good Ben's cinematic wife provides is a moment of heartbreak when, after rejecting him because he has turned into the Thing, she throws her wedding ring at him. He reaches for it...and can't pick it up because he can't really manipulate his new hands. I thought that was a very nice touch. Some may have seen it as comic...

The ring toss culminates a scene where we see the FF use their new powers in public for the first time, even though they still don't really know a lot about them. This scene worked pretty well for me, but to me the lack of budget showed here, with Reed's powers given short shrift. I am very happy about the success of this movie; in large part because I can't wait for Reed to be done better...

I won't detail the entire plot. I will talk a little bit about what worked, and what didn't.

What didn't:

When the movie was over, I realized that the best, most exciting moments were telegraphed in previews for months before the movie came out. They used all of the best moments of the movie in the trailer, and as a result, the dramatic impact was reduced some for me. Some of the effects were spectacular, I just wish they saved up a little bit more. Also, I liked the Thing's appearance, but I most definitely miss the brow ridge. It is so iconic. I saw designs of the Thing that included the brow ridge, and I understand why they didn't use any of them. Maybe if they had more time to design?

I didn't care for Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. She looked fine, but after the first viewing I thought it was a bad performance. A second viewing made me feel a little bit differently. Ultimately, she read the lines okay, but she never became Sue Storm. I should add that Alba isn't entirely responsible, as her character development was another casualty of the tight deadline, and an under-developed script...

Doom. No, it wasn't. But it could be! He gets back to Latveria, his mom (a gypsy practitioner of black magic) takes him back in, and as he's recuperating, she's eliminating the men that stand between Doom and the throne of Latveria...

Anyway, I thought that Julian McMahon did very well as Doom, except in the moment or 2 where he looked uncannily like Kevin Spacey. I have no problem with the actor, this was very good casting. It's the writing of his character that needs a lot of help. This wasn't the Dr. Doom that FF fans love to hate, this was Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn and the Marvel characters Electro and Colossus jammed painfully into one character...

It was evident that the movie had to make concessions to budget and schedule. The biggest impact was on Reed's character. It just felt to me like they avoided showing him stretch if they could. When I think of various depictions of his character in the comics, I think of a Reed who uses his super-power almost as if he's always possessed it; a natural part of him. For example, I love seeing him stretch in the employ of his scientific pursuits, it suggests a lot about his intellect. And this is supposed to be the world's smartest guy...we didn't get that so much from this movie. He was a little too ineffectual for my tastes. But, again, a sequel is coming...

What did work:

Okay, how best to put this? It was a fun movie! I enjoyed the experience of watching it. The tone was perfect. Despite my enumerating what was wrong with it, FF didn't suck so badly that it was unenjoyable. It was very enjoyable! I saw it 3 times, and liked it more with each viewing.

Chiklis brought Benjamin Jacob Grimm and The Thing to life, Chris Evan also did a nice job of imagining Johnny Storm. Their chemistry was nicely matched to their comic book role models, and was also hilarious! Their chemistry was perfect, and helped make FF so enjoyable. Chemistry is one of the best things about FANTASTIC FOUR. I was disappointed by the depiction of Reed; mainly due to his character being under developed. Ioan Griffith is a good actor, and man, he looks for all the world like he was torn off of a page of Walter Simonson's FF run.

The Human Torch's story arc: I loved the character's slowly getting better at using his power. It was also good writing, and saved money on the effect...and the effect was dead-on...I really worried when I was heard that the Torch might not "flame on" completely. Oops! Spoiler!

It's successful enough to warrant a sequel!

Bottom line? I probably loved it so much because I love the material...I am probably being too forgiving of the end result...

Bring on...FANTASTIC TWO? FANTASTIC FOUR TWO? PART 2? How about 4X2?